The internet has come along way since I first started learning internet marketing 3 years ago. These days you can monetise just about any type of website or webpage and earn a residual income. How much money you earn depends solely on your

• Research
• Ability to take action
• Time you invest into your business
• Marketing (online and offline)
• Dedication to your business
• Lifestyle choices
• Money you have to invest into your business
• Ability to keep learning as the internet is a growing concern and if you do not keep up, then you will get left behind
  

Before I go into the different types of online businesses, types of products/services you can sell and also the different website building options you have to choose from, I wanted to tell you a few different ways that you can actually start an online business for Free. 
 
I highly recommend you try out some of these options before seriously starting web business because it helps you to learn the ropes, get a feel for what operating a web business is all about and if you make a few mistakes it does not matter as it is all part of the process. Trust me I have made lots.
 
Below is a list of some of the ways you can create websites, web pages and income without spending any money (or very little) to get started.(Be aware that if you want to get results faster you may wish to use paid marketing options down the track, but to begin with I think it is best to learn for free).

• Selling other peoples products as an affiliate: Internet marketers know the power of other people selling their products. Those who have a marketing budget invest their money in creating tools for other people to make them money. Some of the tools include sales pages, websites already premade for you to market their products so that you can make money via commission. You make them money while you market their products  (sounds like a good idea to me)
• Selling other peoples products from a Blog or Squidoo page: Similar to the above except you can sign up to any affiliate program that provides you with a link to put on your blog or squidoo page that directs your visitors to a website where they can purchase the products. The beauty about this is they do all the work and you just get paid a commission. All you need to do is make sure you do your homework, research the best selling affiliate products and promote these products. It is obviously a lot quicker to make money if you already have a list to market to, but you will learn about different ways of marketing for free in another article. You can even create an Adsense account where Google puts ads on your Squidoo pages, Blogs or Web pages and you can earn money every time someone clicks on Google's paid ads which are other people's Google Adwords.
• Joining forums: Where people are interested in the affiliate products that you are selling or your own products from your Blog. You can tell people about the product (don't do any sales hype) just genuine conversation where you think this product may assist someone in the forum, attach your affiliate link and if someone clicks on your link and purchases anything then you will get paid a commission. ( It is getting harder to make money this way as people in forums are wary of affiliate links and tend to check it out themselves without using your link, but people are still making money this way)
• Ebay: Is another place to start selling, it does cost you a very small advertising fee to list your item, but it is one of the cheapest places to make money on the internet and a great way to learn how the internet operates
• Blinkweb: This is one of the website builders that I use to teach my newbies how to get started. Brad Callen created this product early this year and it is a great free website builder that you can use to get started online. If you want to know more about other free website builders, visit my website builder list as I have them all listed there for you to test drive
• Bebiz is another fantastic website builder - not free but provides more functionality
  

These are just a few of the ways you can get started in creating your own web business. 
I highly recommend creating a free blog at www.blogger.com to get the feel of what it is like. Remember you don't have to publish it till you are ready but it is a great way to learn.
Also I highly recommend creating a Squidoo page for free at www.squidoo.com. Squidoo pages are lots of fun. Go and check out what other people are doing to get a feel for it then have a play.  It is the same as a Blog, you don't have to publish it till you're ready and it is a great way to learn.
 
Just have a go and see what happens it's free plus you'll learn lots.
 
 Quick Tips

• Getting started is the most daunting part of building an web business which is why I highly recommend you go and have a play before spending any money
• Once you have a feel for it, then start doing some research and thinking about what type of web business you would like to run
• Also sit down and make a list about what you what to achieve from your web business

  How many days a week do you want to work

  Do you want to do it part time or full time

  How much money do you want to make

  Do you want to work on your own or with other people

  How much money do you have to invest in this web business

• Remember owning a web business is not much different to having a job except that you are the boss and you get to decide the level of success, lifestyle choices and direction you want your business to take. Your results are totally up to you!
  

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Pam Brossman is an Australian Online Business Coach helping women around the world create lifestyle choices by learning how to build their own online business.  If you wish to find out more visit http://www.pammieb.com